Rodebjer

Sex! Admit it, that got your attention. How could it not? Sex—the word, the concept, the possibility of having some, soon—triggers our animal reflexes and activates our most complex individual longings. We all have the same sex, pretty much, and we all have it differently. Everyone's desire is unique. That idea of sexual subjectivity was the one animating Carin Rodebjer's new collection, a wearable riff on Rita Mae Brown's writing on sex and sensuality. In Rodebjer's hands, "sexy" didn't mean a skintight bandage dress; it meant, say, a slouchy suit draped off the body, or a slinky silk robe with cherry-patterned embroidery, or crisp, quality shirting sized to suggest a woman trying on her boyfriend's button-down. A wink of sheerness here, a touch of feral hand-knit there. A variety of erotic flavors. Of course, one didn't have to know that sex—sex!—was a key reference to get the appeal of many of the strongest looks here: To wit, the blue patchwork culottes, made from recycled fabric, or the faux fur gilet, or the reversible striped blanket coats. Elsewhere, however, the sexy came through loud and clear. When Lindsey Wixson closed the show in one of the Rodebjer slouchy suits, there wasn't any need to read between the lines.